JACKSON, Miss. – The fifty years ago FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover personally traveled to Mississippi to re-open the FBI’s Jackson Field office which had been closed since 1946, in order to search for three Mississippi Civil Rights workers. Roy K. Moore was chosen as to serve as the special agent to lead that field office. Since that day, the FBI has maintained a presence in the Magnolia state. The field office is now headquartered in the James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and Roy K. Moore Federal Building which was named in honor of the men at the center of that pivotal event in Mississippi’s history and the first federal building to pay tribute to civilian victims of crime.
The FBI Jackson Division held a celebration ceremony Thursday at which several Mississippians paid tribute.
Myrlie Evers-Williams described how her personal feelings about the FBI changed and how the agency brought the killer of her husband, Medgar Evers, to justice.
Former Governor William Winter recalled how the FBI seemed to be the only thing protecting Mississippi citizens from the Ku Klux Klan
FBI Deputy Director Mark F. Giuliano recalls the FBI’s past in the state. How division targeted hate crimes, removed corrupt city leaders, dismantled the Dixie Mafia, and handled some of the countries most wanted criminals.
James Comey Director of the FBI
Attorney General Jim Hood
